Nearly the entire world is practicing social distancing due to the coronavirus, and for many of us, this newfound time leaves us wondering how to spend it. Rather than letting that boredom become unhealthy, see this time as an opportunity to explore something new, engage a passion you never could. For my first post in a series on ways to stay busy during these times: read! A bit of a cliché? Sure, but with reason. That classic novel you’ve always wanted to read… that history book you told yourself you’d get through years ago… well, now is your chance. If you’re unsure where to start, here are some of my favorites and what I’m reading now:
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler: the fascinating story of Jazz Age icon Zelda Fitzgerald, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife, that reveals how the superficial glamor of the couple’s life came with even greater hardships.
If you like this book, check out Paula McClain’s The Paris Wife about Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson, another one of my favorites.
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson: the harrowing history of criminal injustice in the United States and lawyer Bryan Stevenson’s work get wrongly-incarcerated black men off death row. Stevenson was even interviewed by Oprah, and the book was adapted into a movie this year. If I can’t convince you, hopefully that can.
Also check out The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton, one of Stevenson’s clients. He tells his personal story of his incarceration and eventual escape from death row.
New York: The Novel by Edward Rutherford: a captivating history of New York City that truly reads like fiction. At 880 pages, it is no small feat, but you have time! The author also has books on Paris and London.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reed: a novel about an iconic but elusive Hollywood movie star who finally decides to tell the story of her dramatic life.
If you like this, check out Reed’s other book Daisy Jones & The Six, based loosely on rockstar Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac and cleverly told through news stories and interviews.
The Telephone Box Library by Rachael Lucas: a quaint novel set in England about a teacher who moves to the town of Little Maudley in hopes of researching World War Two, only to become absorbed in the community and its residents.
The Address: A Novel by Fiona Davis: set around New York City’s famous apartment building, the Dakota, the novel tells two intertwining stories–one of Sara Smythe, a maid who becomes the Dakota’s head manager after meeting the building’s architect; and one of fallen interior designer Bailey Camden, tasked with redoing her cousin’s apartment in the building. Definitely a page-turner!
Nonrequired Reading: Prose Pieces by Wislawa Szymborska: winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, this clever, thought-provoking collection of short prose pieces can be read over and over.
La Femme au Carnet Rouge by Antoine Laurain is the French book I just finished, and given the roots of this blog, I felt I should include it. It is a perfect choice for intermediate-to-advanced French speakers looking to keep their skills sharp. The novel tells the story of a woman whose purse is stolen, and that of the man who later finds the purse without any identifying information and sets out to find its owner. As you could imagine, the two stories eventually intertwine, but that’s all I will say!
Take the time to read a classic! I can’t pick just one, but some of my favorites are: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; the Catcher in the Rye (and Franny and Zooey for something less conventional) by J.D. Salinger; The Sun Also Rises, A Moveable Feast, and The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (if you cannot motivate yourself to read an entire book) by Ernest Hemingway; and The Merchant of Venice and Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Some of my favorite poets are John Keats, John Donne, and William Blake. Even if you read these works in school, read them again! You’ll most certainly see them in a new light.
Salut Madeleine 